Axleless dump-car for articulated trains



Oct. 3, 1961 H. F. FLOWERS 3,@@2,470

AXLELESS DUMP-CAR FOR ARTICULATED TRAINS Filed Feb. 21, 1957 4 Sheets-Sheet l FIG. 8.

HENRY FORT FLOWERS INVENTOR FIG.

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ATTORNEYS Oct. 3,- 1961 H. F. FLOWERS I AXLELESS DUMP-CAR FOR ARTICULATED TRAINS Filed Feb. 21, 1957 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 HENRY FORT FLOWERS INVENTOR ATTORNEY S Oct. 3, 1961 H. F. FLOWERS I AXLELESS DUMP-CAR FOR ARTICULATED TRAINS Filed Feb. 21, 1957 4 Sheets-Sheet Z HENRY FORT FLOWERS INVENTOR ATTORNEYS Oct. 3, 1961 H. F. FLOWERS AXLELESS DUMP-CAR FOR ARTICULATED TRAINS 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed Feb. 21, 1957 HENRY FORT FLOWERS INVENTOR ATTORNEYS ited Sites 3,002,470 AXLELESS DUlVlP-CAR FOR ARTICULATED TRAINS Henry Fort Flowers, 3023 Del Monte Drive, Houston 19, Tex. Filed Feb. 21, 1957, Ser. No. 641,679 7 Claims. (Cl. 105250) The specification which follows relates to improvements in an articulated train of aXleless bottom-dump cars. Articulated trains have certain advantages but have primarily been directed to railway vehicles of the passenger type. They have, however, even greater advantages if it is poss'ble to adapt them to bottom-dump cars.

The present invention is addressed to an improved design of an articulated train of axleless dump-bottom cars the individual features of which contribute greatly to simplicity of construction and ruggedness of structure. Axleless cars are those which have no transverse axle common to a pair of wheels resting on the opposite tracks. An example of such a structure will be found in the patent to Flowers, January 18, 1955, No. 2,699,733. In such a structure the individual wheels are mounted on separate stub shafts replacing a single shaft running the full width of the truck structure. This arrangement provides a characteristic independent truck on each side with two wheels in tandem.

One of the objects of this invention is to provide a three-point suspension for each car body and its underframe in the assemblage of an articulated train of dump cars.

Another object is to reduce to the minimum the angle of attack of tandem wheel flanges on the rails, thus minimizing friction, wear and the chance of derailment.

A still further object of the invention is to provide independent rotation of the wheels of an articulated train thus eliminating the longitudinal slippage of wheels when travelling on a curved track.

A still further object of the invention is to provide minimum over-all dimensions and weight for the truck construction of an articulated train.

It is likewise an object of the invention to overcome the outward effect of coupling force and centrifugal force when the train is being backed around a curve, through the provision of short tie-bar linkage which points the wheels on the inside rail toward the inside of a curve.

Among the objects of my invention is to provide a truck adaptable for support at either end of a terminal or intermediate car in an articulated train when that car must have support in both ends independently of the adjacent car.

Incidental to the invention is the provision of a body bolster construction with a fixed low height to which couplers and draft gear can be attached in an articulated assembly.

A still further object of the invention is to materially increase the maximum capacity of bottom-dump load carrying cars for given over-all dimensions.

Among the objects of the invention is to increase the maximum length of the bottom discharge opening in conjunction with the design of an articulated car. These and other objects will be readily understood from the following description of the invention as illustrated in the preferred form of the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a side elevation of a train of two or more atriculated cars embodying my invention and showing the rear-most car resting symmetrically on two trucks;

FIG. 2 is a transverse vertical section taken through one of the cars on the line 22 of FIG. 1 and with the bottom doors in open position;

FIG. 3 is a plan view of the novel train;

3,2,470 Patented Oct. 3, 1961 FIG. 4 is a similar plan view showing the positions taken by the cars on a curved track;

FIG. 5 is a partial plan view showing the position of the truck on a sharp curve of very short radius where the short tie bar linkage turns the wheels on the inside rail in a direction tending to pull the car to the inside of the curve when the train is being backed;

H6. 6 is an enlarged plan view of truck;

FIG. 7 is an end-view of the same and FIG. 8 is an end view of one truck.

Briefly described the novel features of this improved construction involves the use in an articulated train of bottom-dump cars, of axleless trucks.

One such truck is mounted on one end of each car while the truck provides a pintle upon which the adjacent end of the adjoining car is supported. In this way each car is given a three-point suspension. The truck mounting is of well known design such as illustrated in the Flowers Patent 2,602,401, and therefore need not be referred to in greater detail than to point out that this provides smooth riding even over rough and uneven tracks. Likewise an adaptation has been made of an axleless truck in which the pairs of wheels on opposite sides form independent supports for the car body and are cross-coupled to permit the wheels to travel on a curved track with a minimum of friction and wear and at the same time to oppose centrifugal force which might otherwise interfere with travel in a backward direction. In other words, the train may be pushed backwardly more rapidly than is the usual case.

By way of example the preferred form of the invention has been illustrated on the attached drawings. Here each dump car unit 11 is formed of sheet metal, preferably steel. The body is built up as a hopper having exterior side sheets 12 and end sheets 13. The end sheets 13 are bowed backwardly at the corners, as shown in FIG. 4, to permit clearance When turning on sharp curves.

The side sheets 12 are bent in at the bottom to provide a flange 14, thus increasing the strength of the sides of the car and at the same time providing adequate support for the bottom of the car.

There is an inside sloping sheet 15 attached to each side'sheet 12, while an inside end sheet 16 is attached to the end sheets 13. This forms a hopper Within the car having an open bottom 17. The several parts of the car are fastened together by any suitable means, preferably continuous welding.

Drop doors 18 are provided for the bottom. These are arranged preferably in transverse pairs where the car is used for metal mining and tunnelling. However, in coal mining and for other purposes they may be arranged on transverse hinges. As shown, the doors 18 are supported from hinge brackets 19 on hinge pins 20. Suitable means are provided for holding the doors in closed position until reaching the point of discharge.

Each car of the above description has a bracket brace 21 at one end forming the bearing part of the upper articulated pivot 22.

This pivot 22 is supported upon the lower complementary pivot or universal bearing member 23 formed as part of the supporting bolster plate of the adjoining car. Pivots 22 and 23 together form a draft coupling.

It will be noted that the pivot 23 and the bracket 21 are directly below the end sheet 13 and thus serve to support that end of the car directly.

Side sills 24, 24 are provided in the form of channel sections of which the web is toward the outside of the car and adjacent the flanging part of the outer side sheet 12 (FIG. 3). The side sill 24 is in the form of a parallelogram, as shown in FIG. 1, with its base projecting beyond the end of the car. By sloping the sill in this manner a slightly modified 3 permit the corner of the next making a sharp turn (FIG. 4).

The sills 24, 24 rest upon a bolster plate 25. This bolster plate extends forwardly of the end of the car in the form of a platform, as shownin FIG. 4. The plate 25 is rigidly connected to the side sills 24, 24.

A transverse bolster channel beam 26 extends transversely beneath the forwardly projecting portion of the bolster plate 25. The bolster plate rests fixedly upon the upper flanges of the channel beam 26. The front flange of the channel beam 26 is underneath the front edge of the bolster plate 25.

Directly above the front flange of the channel beam 26 and midway across the bolster plate 25, the latter carries the lower pivot or hearing 23. In this way the bearing 23-is well sustained by the bolster plate and the added clearance is given to car to overlap the sill when transverse channel beam.

There is an independent two-wheel truck 27 above each rail 30 and under the bolster plate 25 at each side, such as is described in detail in Patent 2,699,733. Each truck 27 carries two central pivot bearings 28, 28. This bearing supports a king post or pivot 29, which in turn is attached to the channel beam 26 and the bolster plate 25. Thus the forward end of the car is supported on each truck directly above the rail 30 and the tandem pair of flanged wheels 31 for both vertical oscillation and horizontal swinging.

The trucks 27 are connected on the inside at the rear by providing brackets 32 and a connecting tie bar 33. As the trucks are customarily provided without brake mechanism, it will be evident consequently that a minimum of clearance is needed between the'truck and the bolster plate 25.

By following the above described design, the bottomdump car is given the greatest capacity within overall dimensions and at the same time the longest possible bottom opening is provided. As shown in the drawings, the use of the articulated axleless design permits a greater length of opening than an axle-type truck design where the Whole truck swings about a pivot at the center of the car. In the latter case there is a materially greater radius from which the doors must be kept clear. In the present design swinging of the trucks on pivots which are substantially between the cars will not bring the truck wheels any closer to the bottom doors of'the car, regardless of the curvature of the track. This is well illustrated in FIG. 4 of the drawings. The same clearance exists between the trucks and the hopper bottoms of each adjacent car.

In backingthe train,.there is a'manifest advantage of the axleless truck arrangement over the two-wheel single axle truck. In the single axle truck previously used in the conventional type the flanges of the wheels have an angle of attack against the rail equal to approximately half of the angle between adjacent cars. For example, if the cars shown in FIG. 4 were supported by the conventional trucks, the angle of attack of the flanges of the single axle two-wheel car would be approximately 10 degrees. By substituting the four-wheel axleless truck shown here, the average angle of attack of the outer flange against the rail is reduced by the ratio of the axleless truck wheel base to the .car length, namely to an angle of attack of approximately 2.5 degrees.

The average angle of attack of the flanges of a -4-wheel axleless type truck can often be less than that of a fourwheel axle type truck because it is usually-possible to use ashorter truck wheel base with the axleless design. In addition, FIGURE shows that a further .advantage can be obtained on the axleless design by using a tie bar 19 between truck tie bar brackets 20-20 that is considerably shorter than the distance between king post pivots I818. The positions of such trucks 22 on an extremely sharp curve are shown in FIGURE 5. It can be seen that when the truck on the outside rail has both flanges against the rail, the tie-bar linkage points the truck on the inside rail so that the inside truck tends 4 to pull the car toward the inside rail when the car is rolling in the direction shown.

This feature can be particularly useful in a train which is pulled in one direction and pushed in the other by a locomotive which is always at the same end of an articulated train. When the train is being pulled around a curve, the coupling forces in draft between cars tends to pull the trucks towards the inside rail, tending to oppose centrifugal forces on the car, which act in an outward direction. When a train is being pushed in the di rection shown in FIGURE 5, both coupling forces in buflf and centrifugal forces tend to force the trucks toward the outer rail. However, the pull toward the inside of the curve contributed by the axleless truck on the inside rail acts to reduce the net outward forces on the trucks; hence an axleless articulated train should be able to be pushed around curves at a higher speed than that permissible with an axle type design, in which the plane of all rotating wheels must remain parallel to each other.

While the preferred form of the invention has been illustrated and described by way of example, various changes in arrangement, proportions and minor structural details can be carried out without departing from the scope of the invention as defined in the following claims.

What I claim is:

1. A railway dump-truck having a body with its ends bowed at the corners, a universal bearing member beneath one end of the body on its longitudinal axis, a pair of side sills projecting from the opposite end with downwardly sloping ends a transverse bolster plate supporting the ends of the sills, a second bearing member centrally on said bolster plate for fitting engagement with the universal bearing member on an adjacent car, laterally spaced king posts attached to the bolster plate, an axleless tandem truck pivotally supporting each king post and a tie-bar connecting the said trucks.

2. A railway dump-truck having a body with a universal bearing member beneath one end on its longitudinal axis, a pair of channel beams with vertical webs projecting from the sides at the opposite end with downwardly sloping ends, a transverse bolster plate supporting the ends of the said beams, a second bearing member centrally on said bolster plate beneath the bottom of the car body for fitting engagement with the universal bearing on an adjacent car, laterally spaced king posts attached to the bolster plate, an axleless tandem truck pivotally supporting each king post and a tie-bar connecting the said trucks.

3. A railway dump-car having a body with a universal bearing member under one end on its longitudinal axis and having at its other end two longitudinally projecting side sills, a transvers bolster plate supporting said sills at their projecting ends, a second bearing member centrally on said bolster plate beneath the bottom of the car body for fitting engagement with the universal bearing on an adjacent car, a pair of independent tandem wheel trucks, a pivot bearing on each truck above and in the vertical plane of the wheels of the truck, pivot posts on the bolster plate beyond the end of the car body and resting on the pivot bearings and a tie-bar connecting the said trucks.

4. A railway dump-car for bottom discharge having a body with inwardly sloping transverse end walls and with a universal bearing member beneath one end on its longitudinal axis and having at its other end two longitudinally projecting side sills, a transverse bolster plate supporting said sills at their projecting ends, a second bearing member centrally on said bolster plate beneath the bottom of the car body for fitting engagement with the universal bearing on an adjacent car, a pair of independent tandem wheel trucks beneath the said sloping end walls of the car body, a pivot bearing on each truck above and in the vertical plane of the wheels 9 e t uck, and pivot posts on the bolster plate beyond the end of the car body and resting on the pivot bearings, a tie-bar connecting the said trucks, said trucks projecting beyond each end of the car for substantially half their lengths and hinged bottom doors extending substantially for the remaining length of the car between the trucks at opposite ends.

5. A railway dump-car having a body with a universal bearing member under one end on its longitudinal axis, and having at its other end two longitudinally projecting side sills, a transverse bolster plate supporting said sills at their projecting ends, a second bearing member centrally on said bolster plate beneath the bottom of the car body for fitting engagement with the universal bearing on an adjacent car, a pair of independent tandem wheel trucks, a pivot bearing on each truck above and in the vertical plane of the wheels of the truck, pivot posts on the bolster plate resting on the pivot bearings and a tie bar connecting the inner sides of the ends of the tandem trucks beneath the car body.

6. An articulated railway vehicle having a hearing at one end on its longitudinal axis for universal pivotal support on an adjacent vehicle and having at its other end two longitudinally projecting spaced sills, a transverse bolster supporting said sills at their projecting ends, a second bearing member centrally on said bolster plate for fitting engagement with the universal bearing on an adjacent car, laterally spaced body supports mounted on 6 said bolster, a truck for each body support, each truck including a frame and wheels arranged in tandem thereon, and a tie-bar connecting the said trucks, said frame being connected to said body support so as to turn about a vertical axis and so as to oscillate on a horizontal axis.

7. A railway dump-car having a body with a universal bearing member at one end on its longitudinal axis, two parallel side sills projecting below and beyond the 0pposite end of the body, a transverse bolster plate beneath said sills, a second bearing member centrally on said bolster plate for fitting engagement with the universal bearing member on an adjacent car, a pair of independent tandemwheel trucks, a tie-oar connecting said trucks, a pivot bearing on each truck between and in the vertical plane of the wheels of the truck, and a pivot post on the bolster plate supported on each pivot bearing.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,933,458 Symington Oct. 31, 1933 2,066,836 Hughes Jan. 5, 1937 2,674,957 Miler Apr. 13, 1954 2,699,733 Flowers Jan. 18, 1955 FOREIGN PATENTS 686,769 France Apr. 15, 1930 

